Synthetic braiding hair and its manufacturing method

ABSTRACT

A new synthetic braiding hair and its manufacturing methods are disclosed. The synthetic braiding hair is comprised of a plurality of the first synthetic fibers configured to have natural ending shape; a plurality of the second synthetic fibers configured to be half-length of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers and have natural ending shape; and the plurality of the second synthetic fibers is combined in the middle of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers and folded together to form a hook.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new synthetic braiding hair and itsmanufacturing method. More specifically, the proposed synthetic braidinghair is attached to natural human hair intended to achieve new hairstyles and functions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hair styles for women have changed for many years according to thetrends in hair design industries, and the development of synthetic hairproducts has aided the continuous introduction of new hair styles to thebeauty and hair design market. These braiding hair products are normallyattached to a natural human hair by braiding or stitching with a specialhair needle. Most of the hair styling tools in the market have beencontinuously improved to facilitate the attaching of synthetic hair tonatural hair. However, the creation of new and better braiding hairstyle products is still in great need.

So far, most of prior arts in the US patents have been focused only onthe device used for braiding natural or synthetic hair itself. U.S. Pat.No. 5,497,795 suggested the use of flexible and resilient loops, eachloop connected to the next loop in a series and each loop beingindividually expandable, to prevent natural hair from being loosenedfrom the normal braiding method.

US Publication No. 2008/0163882 disclosed the braid hair weft thatattaches a plurality of synthetic hair to a series of strings, designedto reduce the length of time it takes to add hair extensions and attachindividual braid to a person's head. The present invention requiresanchoring hair fibers to a weft creating an apparatus for quickly addingbraids without requiring one to individually braid strands of a person'shair.

U.S. Pat. No. 9,439,498 introduced a flexible tube to embrace thebraided hair to protect the natural braid hair from the environment byproviding a lengthwise contractible cylindrical evolved hair tube, wherethe hair tube is resiliently biased toward a preformed state.

These references to the US patents provide examples of improved methodsand devices on how to braid natural or synthetic hair extensions, butthe disclosing of any new braiding hair itself and its developmentmethods has not been suggested yet. Consequently, hair designers areforced to manually create new hair styles by braiding and extendingseveral different existing styles of synthetic hair products together.This method of braiding has been especially popular in African-Americanhair shops.

Instead of suggesting another tool or device to create new hairbraiding, the present invention discloses a new synthetic braiding hairthat has both hot water setting capability and an antibacterial functionresistant to moisture and sweat.

To understand the creativity of the present invention, one must reviewthe existing hair products in the market and how noble and new thepresent invention is compared to the prior art.

For many years, most synthetic braiding hair products have been sold inone large bundle. When the user cuts the bundle in a desired length, theending tip becomes constant and straight. If the synthetic braiding hairis attached as is to the user's natural hair, its constant ending tipsmakes the hair style unnatural. To avoid this, hair designers take asmall amount of synthetic hair from the large bundle and pull/stretch itlittle by little. By repeating this process, the length of the endingtip becomes slightly and randomly varied, which creates an effect of anatural hair ending shape. However, in order to make the amount neededto create one hair style with the synthetic braiding hair for acustomer, it requires an extensive work of pulling and takes many hoursto do.

Synthetic braiding hair products are usually stitched onto the user'soriginal hair with a hair stitching tool. Then it is further styled bybraiding or temperature control, called “hot water setting”, to createnaturally shaped curls. Hot water setting is performed as follows.

First, the synthetic hair is twisted, then it is immersed in hot waterof about 50-60 degrees Celsius. The shape of the synthetic braiding hairis fixed as previously twisted, then natural hair curls can be producedthereof. This type of synthetic braiding hair is widely used because ofits changeability of the shape by the temperature control. The user caneasily create curly hair style through the hot water setting.

However, there are drawbacks to existing hot water setting capablesynthetic braiding hair materials. Due to the nature of the fiber usedfor manufacturing this kind of synthetic hair, it tends to easily absorbmoisture from the environment, especially when it is attached to thehuman hair, the sweat, or secretion from the human skin. It becomesdifficult to manage the hygiene of the scalp when moisture isimpregnated into the fiber.

Many users using the synthetic hair product cannot wash or clean withwater because the synthetic hair is susceptible to shape changes when itabsorbs moisture. A chemical cleaning product is available and usedinstead to cleanse the scalp. However, this cleaning solution sometimesresults in itchiness, and/or rashes on the scalp and causes additionalhygiene issues.

In addition, the weight of the synthetic hair becomes heavier whenmoisture is absorbed, which burdens the wearer of the hair.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

To overcome several issues caused by the current synthetic braiding hairproduct, the objective of the present disclosure is to develop a newbraiding synthetic hair that provides a pre-stretched bundle withnatural ending shape so that the user can easily attach the product tothe hair without additional pulling work.

In addition, the new braiding synthetic hair contains two types ofsynthetic fibers that deliver different functionalities. The first fiberwith longer length is mainly positioned from the middle to the end ofit, having conventional hot water setting capability for the user tostyle curly hair easily.

The second fiber placed adjacent to the scalp is antibacterial and alsoresistant to moisture and sweat. Thus, the scalp is effectivelymaintained healthy and clean.

The second fiber is also lighter than the first fiber because it doesnot absorb moisture from the environment and its length is half of thefirst fiber. Thus, the overall weight of the presented synthetic hairbecomes much lighter than the conventional synthetic hair, giving muchless weight burden on user's scalp.

The illustrative embodiment in the disclosure shows a synthetic braidinghair comprising a plurality of the first synthetic fibers configured tohave natural ending shape and a plurality of the second synthetic fibersthat are half-length of the first synthetic fibers and have naturalending shape as well. The group of second fibers is then combined in themiddle of the plurality of the first fibers and folded together to forma hooked shape.

In the present disclosure, the plurality of the first synthetic fibersis capable of hot water setting to form a curly hair style, while theplurality of the second synthetic fibers is antibacterial and resistantto moisture and sweat.

In the present disclosure, the plurality of the first synthetic fiberspositioned to the other end of the hook is used for the hot watersetting, while the plurality of the second synthetic fibers positionednear the hook is stitched to the human hair and antibacterial andresistant to moisture and sweat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1(a) through 1(d) is a conceptual diagram for describing theplurality of the first and second synthetic fibers.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a combing device and a pulling devicefor describing how to pull the plurality of the first and secondsynthetic fibers to create a natural ending shape.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for describing how to manufacture the synthetichair using the plurality of the first and second synthetic fibers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, illustrative embodiments and examples will be described indetail so that inventive concept may be readily implemented by thoseskilled in the art. However, it is to be noted that the presentdisclosure is not limited to the illustrative embodiments and examplesbut can be visualized in various other ways. In drawings, parts notdirectly relevant to the description are omitted to enhance the clarityof the drawings, and like reference numerals denote like partsthroughout the whole document.

Throughout the whole document, the term “on” that is used to designate aposition of one element with respect to another element includes both acase that the one element is adjacent to the other element and a casethat any other element exists between these two elements.

The terms “comprises or includes” and/or “comprising or including” usedin the document means that one or more other components, steps,operations and/or existence or addition of elements are not excluded inaddition to the described components, steps, operations and/or elementsunless context dictates otherwise. The terms “about or approximately” or“substantially” are intended to have meanings close to numerical valuesor ranges specified with an allowable error and intended to preventaccurate or absolute numerical values disclosed for understanding of thepresent disclosure from being illegally or unfairly used by anyunconscionable third party. Throughout the whole document, the term“step of” does not mean “step for”.

Throughout the whole document, the term “combination of” included in theMarkush type description means a mixture or combination of one or morecomponents, steps, operations and/or elements selected from the groupconsisting of components, steps, operations and/or elements described inthe Markush type and thereby means that the disclosure includes one ormore components, steps, operations and/or elements selected from theMarkush group.

Furthermore, in the following description of illustrative embodiments,terms related to a direction or a position (upper side, lower side, upand down directions, etc.) are defined with respect to the arrangementstate of individual components shown in drawings. For example, the“upper side” and the “lower side” may be defined as the upper side andthe lower side when viewed from FIG. 1, that is, the “left side” and the“right side” on a paper plane. However, it should be noted that when theillustrative embodiment is practically applied, the components may bearranged in various directions with the upper side and the lower sidereversed, for example.

Below, illustrative embodiments and examples of the present disclosurewill be described in detail.

In FIG. 1(a) through FIG. 1(d), a synthetic braiding hair (10) iscomprised of a plurality of the first synthetic fibers (20) and aplurality of the second synthetic fibers (30). The plurality of thefirst synthetic fibers (20) is firstly cut on both ends in a desiredlength (20-1) from a large fiber bundle. The ending tip of the pluralityof the first synthetic fibers (20-1) then becomes constant.

The ending tip is then pulled through a combing process to make it morelike a natural hair ending shape. In FIG. 2, the combing process isperformed using a comb table (70) and a pulling device (80). The combtable is comprised of a plurality of needles (71) perpendicularlyextruded from a flat surface thereof. A gripper (81) is located in themiddle of the pulling device. One end of the plurality of the firstsynthetic fibers (20-1) is held by a gripper (81) and the other end ofthe plurality of the first synthetic fibers is placed around theplurality of needles (71) on the comb table (70). The pulling deviceparallelly moves away from the comb table (70). The plurality of thefirst synthetic fibers (20-1) passes through the plurality of theneedles (71) then is stretched. In a pulling motion, the gripper isslightly and continuously open and close its gap, which holds andreleases the plurality of the first synthetic fibers (20-1)simultaneously so that the end of the plurality of the first syntheticfibers (20-1) is differently aligned. The slight misalignment of thefiber eventually gives a natural hair ending shape effect at the tip ofit.

The plurality of the first synthetic fibers is capable of hot watersetting to form a curly hair style.

The plurality of the second synthetic fibers (30-1) is cut about a halflength of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers (20), then, asshown in FIG. 1(b), its ending is stretched through a combing process inthe same manner described above to create a natural hair ending shape(30-2).

The plurality of the second synthetic fibers is antibacterial andresistant to moisture and sweat.

In next procedure, the plurality of the first synthetic fibers (20-2)and the plurality of the second synthetic fibers (30-2) is placedtogether. In FIG. 1(c), each center of the plurality of the first andsecond synthetic fibers (20-2, 30-2) is aligned.

The combined plurality of the first and second synthetic fibers isfolded together along the center line to form a hook (40), as shown inFIG. 1(d). The hook is used for stitching the combined plurality of thefirst and second fibers, or the synthetic braiding hair, (10) to theuser's natural hair.

The plurality of the first synthetic fibers is mostly positioned to theother end of the hook (50) and is used for the hot water setting.

The plurality of the second synthetic fibers is mostly positioned nearthe hook and stitched to the human hair, and is antibacterial andresistant to moisture and sweat.

To manufacture the synthetic braiding hair disclosed herein, theprocedure of the following method is suggested in the diagram in FIG. 4,as it shows the step by step procedure of manufacturing a syntheticbraiding hair in detail.

First, a plurality of the first synthetic fibers is stretched. Thisincludes a step of using a gripper that alternately holds and releasesone end of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers while combing theother end of the same plurality of the first synthetic fibers with acombing device.

The combing device is comprised of a plurality of needles on a flatsurface. One end of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers isplaced onto the plurality of the needles. The gripper alternately holdsand releases the other end of the plurality of the first syntheticfibers when pulling it from the plurality of the needles. Through thecombined combing motion with alternating gripping, the end of the fibersare aligned with a slightly different length, which results in thenatural ending shape similar to the human hair.

The plurality of the second synthetic fiber is stretched in the same wayas the plurality of the first synthetic fibers to create the naturalending shape.

Then, the plurality of the second synthetic fibers is placed in themiddle of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers. This step alsoincludes setting the length of the plurality of the second syntheticfibers to be half of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers.

Lastly, a hook is formed by folding the plurality of the first and thesecond synthetic fibers together. The step of forming a hook alsoincludes folding the middle of the now combined first and secondsynthetic fibers so that there is only the plurality of the firstsynthetic fibers on the other side of the hook. The user is able toperform hot water setting to create their own curly hair style at thisend.

The plurality of the second synthetic fibers is placed adjacent to thehook, so that the user can attach the synthetic braiding hair to his/herown natural hair using the hook. The plurality of the second syntheticfibers is antibacterial and resistant to moisture and sweat, preventingany skin damage and itchiness.

The description above of the illustrative embodiments is provided forthe purpose of illustration, and it would be understood by those skilledin this profession so that various changes and modifications may be madewithout changing technical conception and essential features of theillustrative embodiments. Thus, it is clear that the illustrativeembodiments described above are illustrative in all aspects and do notlimit the present disclosure. For example, each component described tobe of a single type can be implemented in a distributed manner.Likewise, components described to be distributed can be implemented in acombined manner.

The scope of the inventive concept is defined by the following claimsand their equivalents rather than by the detailed description of theillustrative embodiments. It shall be understood that all modificationsand embodiments conceived from the meaning and scope of the claims andtheir equivalents are included in the scope of the inventive concept.

We claim:
 1. A synthetic braiding hair comprising: a plurality of thefirst synthetic fibers configured to have a natural ending shape; aplurality of the second synthetic fibers configured to be half-length ofthe plurality of the first synthetic fibers and have a natural endingshape; and wherein the plurality of the second synthetic fibers iscombined in the middle of the plurality of the first synthetic fibersand folded together to form a hook.
 2. The synthetic braiding hair ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of the first synthetic fibers is capableof hot water setting to form a curly hair style.
 3. The syntheticbraiding hair of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the second syntheticfibers is antibacterial and resistant to moisture and sweat.
 4. Thesynthetic braiding hair of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the firstsynthetic fibers positioned to the other end of the hook is used for thehot water setting.
 5. The synthetic braiding hair of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of the second synthetic fibers positioned near the hook isstitched to the human hair and antibacterial and resistant to moistureand sweat.
 6. A method of manufacturing a synthetic braiding haircomprising the steps of: stretching a plurality of the first syntheticfibers; stretching a plurality of the second synthetic fibers; placingthe plurality of the second synthetic fibers in the middle of theplurality of the first synthetic fibers; and forming a hook by foldingthe plurality of the first and the second synthetic fibers together. 7.The method of manufacturing a synthetic braiding hair in claim 7 inwhich the step of pulling the plurality of the first synthetic fibersuses a gripper that alternately holds and releases one end of theplurality of the first synthetic fibers while combing the other end ofthe plurality of the first synthetic fibers with a combing device. 8.The method of manufacturing a synthetic braiding hair in claim 7 inwhich the step of pulling the plurality of the second synthetic fibersuses the gripper that alternately holds and releases one end of theplurality of the second synthetic fibers while combing the other end ofthe plurality of the second synthetic fibers with the combing device. 9.The method of a manufacturing synthetic braiding hair in claim 7 inwhich the step of placing the plurality of the second synthetic fibersin the middle of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers includessetting the length of the plurality of the second synthetic fibers to behalf of the length of the plurality of the first synthetic fibers. 10.The method of manufacturing a synthetic braiding hair in claim 7 inwhich the step of forming a hook includes folding the middle of thecombined first and second synthetic fibers so that there is only theplurality of the first synthetic fibers at the other side of the hook.11. The method of manufacturing a synthetic braiding hair in claim 7 inwhich the step of forming a hook includes placing the plurality of thesecond synthetic fibers adjacent to the hook and the synthetic braidinghair is attached to human hair using the hook.